Liberator II for the RAF/LB-30

Last revised January 17, 2005

Liberator II was the designation assigned to a version of the
Liberator ordered for the RAF in 1941 directly from the Consolidated
production line rather than being diverted from USAAC production
orders. It was designed specifically for British requirements and had
no direct USAAF counterpart. 165 were ordered under RAF serials
AL503/AL667, but only 140 were actually built. They served with three
Coastal Command and two Bomber Command squadrons.

The RAF Liberator II differed from the previous Liberator I (which was
basically a B-24A) primarily in having a three foot-longer nose
section, increasing the length from 63 feet 9 inches . This stretched
nose had been specified by Reuben Fleet very early in the Liberator's
development when he described to the engineering team his gut feeling
that the nose was too short. Fleet's instinct was correct--not only
did the longer nose make the Liberator more aesthetically appealing,
it also added extra room which was to become more important as more
and more equipment had to be added.

The Liberator II was the first version of the Liberator to be equipped
with power turrets. The first installation was performed by the
British in the field at English bases, when they installed two
Boulton-Paul power turrets on a Liberator II. Each turret was armed
with four Browning-Colt 0.303-inch machine guns. An E. Mk. II
turret was installed in the tail and a A. Mk. IV turret was
installed midway down the upper fuselage just aft of the wing. The
top turret had 600 rounds, whereas the tail turret had a 2200-round
capacity which was later increased to 2500 rounds. Only one of the
Liberator IIs had its turret installed at San Diego--all the rest had
their turrets added in England. In addition to the power turrets,
0.303-inch machine guns were mounted in pairs at each waist position.
A single 0.303-inch machine gun was mounted in the nose and in the
belly, bringing total armament to fourteen 0.303-inch machine guns.

All fuel tanks were self-sealing. Curtiss Electric propellers with
long hubs replaced the Hamilton Standard propellers of other Liberator
variants.

The bombload was increased slightly, and gross weight was raised to
64,250 pounds. The maximum speed was reduced to 263 mph because of
the additional drag added by the power turrets, but the service
ceiling was raised from 21,200 feet to 24,000 feet.

The first Liberator II (AL503) was to be delivered to the RAF on June
2, 1941. However, during its acceptance flight, it crashed into San
Diego Bay, killing all aboard including Consolidated's chief test
pilot William Wheatley. The investigation into the cause of the crash
resulted in a delay of two months before the first Liberator II could
be delivered to the RAF. Consequently, the RAF did not get its first
Liberator IIs until August of 1941.

In January of 1942, the Liberator II entered service with RAF Bomber
Command. The Liberator II equipped Nos. 159 and 160 Squadrons, which
became the first bomber units to operate this type of aircraft. They
operated initially in the Middle East theatre of operations, but were
later transferred to the CBI theatre. Liberator IIs later equipped No
148 and 178 Squadrons of RAF Bomber Command.

They also equipped Coastal Command's No. 120 Squadron, supplementing
that units Liberator Is in November of 1941. They remained for about
a year until supplanted by later Liberator versions.

Some of the Liberator IIs were delivered as unarmed transports under
the designation LB-30. Some were used as transports with No. 511
Squadron, with the North Atlantic Return Ferry Service, and with BOAC.
The BOAC operated their Liberators as part of the North Atlantic
Return Ferry Service for RAF Ferry Command. They brought RAF crews to
Canada, where they picked up lend-lease aircraft for ferrying back to
England. Those Liberator IIs used by BOAC as freighters included
AL507, AL512, AL514, AL516, AL522, AL524, AL528, AL529, AL541, AL547,
AL552, AL557, AL571, AL592, AL603, and AL619, which were given the
civilian serials G-AHYC, G-AGEL, G-AGJP, G-AHZP, G-AHYD, G-AGTJ,
G-AGEM, G-AHYE, G-AGTI, G-AGKU, G-AHZR, G-AGZI, G-AGZH, G-AHYF,
G-AHYG, and G-AGKT. The BOAC flight crews wore their civilian
uniforms and were covered by the rules of the Geneva Convention.

All of the BOAC Liberators were returned to the RAF in January of
1945. Seven of them were converted in 1946 as commercial transports.
These conversions include

At least four ex-BOAC Liberator IIs ended up serving with Qantas Empire Airways Ltd, the Australian
airline, between June 1944 and November 1950. Qantas had initially been formed in 1920 as Queensland and
Northern Territory Aerial Services Ltd (QANTAS) with co-founder Hudson Fysh as manager.
In 1934, QANTAS. Ltd and Britain's Imperial Airways Ltd jointly formed Qantas
Empire Airways Ltd to operate the Australia-Singapore section of the Australia-Britain air route, with
Fysh as general manager. As the successor to Imperial Airways, British Overseas
Airways Corporation (BOAC) inherited Imperial's 50% shareholding in Qantas Empire
Airways, hence the transfer of the Liberators. The first two Liberators arrived in 1944 when
the UK Air Ministry released two of them for use on the Indian
Ocean route, which was being operated by five Catalinas which were flying the
3513 nautical miles non-stop and in radio silence. The Liberators made a total of 259 crossings of the Indian Ocean.
A further two Liberators were subsequently
delivered to Qantas in 1945/46.

The four ex-RAF Liberator IIs that served with Qantas Empire Airways were G-AGKT (AL619),
G-AGKU (AL547), G-AGTI (AL541) and G-AGTJ(AL524). G-AGKU and G-AGKT were both scrapped in 1947.
In June of 1947, G-AGTI and G-AGTJ were re-registered in Australian service as VH-EAI and VH-EAJ respectively.
These two planes remained on the civilian registry
until 1950, when they were both broken up for scrap.

The most famous Liberator II was AL504, which was the personal
transport of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. All armament
was removed, and the fuselage was modified to accommodate plush seats,
berths, and an electric flight kitchen. It bore the name Commando.
In 1944, Commando was fitted with a single-fin and rudder. Commando
was lost over the Atlantic on Mar 27, 1945 while on a flight to Canada. All aboard
were lost, including Air Marshal
Sir (Peter) Roy Maxwell Drummond, the RAF's Air Member for Training.

A total of 139 Liberator IIs were delivered to the RAF, serial numbers
being AL504/AL642. Later, an ex-USAAF Liberator was handed over to
the RAF as a replacement for the lost AL503. It was assigned the
serial FP685. It was briefly returned to the USAAF, but the RAF immediately
took it back. It remained in service with the RAF until the end of the
war, and was returned to the 5th AF, where it was scrapped in 1946.

Immediately after Pearl Harbor, the USAAF requisitioned 75 of the
Liberator IIs from the RAF order. For some reason, they were carried
on USAAF rosters under the designation LB-30 (the original export
designation for the Liberator) rather than as B-24, and they retained
their RAF serial numbers.

Fifteen USAAF LB-30 bombers were deployed in Java in early 1942 to
reinforce the B-17-equipped 19th Bombardment Group in a vain attempt
to stem the Japanese advance. These USAAF LB-30s were hastily
re-equipped with a Martin power turret armed with two 0.50-inch
machine guns in the dorsal position behind the wing instead of the
four-gun Boulton-Paul turret of the RAF version. The tail position
was fitted with a pair of hand-held 0.50-inch machine guns mounted
behind sliding doors. Single hand-held 0.50-inch machine guns were
installed in the nose, ventral tunnel, and each waist position. The
tunnel gun was located on the belly of the rear fuselage, and pointed
in the aft direction. It was fired downward through the rear entrance
hatch. Small scanning windows for the gun were located along the
lower sides of the fuselage. The Dark Earth and Dark Green over Black
camouflage scheme of the RAF was retained, but the roundels were
painted over with USAAF insignia.

The Java-based LB-30s would be the first US-flown Liberators to see
action. One was lost in a crash in the USA before delivery, another
ditched en route, and a third was delayed as a result of damage
incurred in an accident in the USA. Those Liberators which did reach
the Java front participated in numerous attacks against Japanese
targets in the Celebes, in Sumatra, and participated in raids against
shipping during the Japanese invasion of Bali. By late February, the
position of Allied forces in Java had become untenable, and the surviving
LB-30s had to be evacuated to Australia. Two LB-30s survived in Australia
until 1944 after having been converted to C-87 transport configuration.

Another 17 LB-30s were equipped with Canadian-built radar and deployed
to Latin America with the 6th Bombardment Group to provide defense for
the Panama Canal. Three LB-30s were sent to Alaska to join the 28th
Composite Group. These saw action against Japanese shipping during
the Aleutian campaign.

Those LB-30s that were not used as bombers were converted as
transports and were assigned to the 7th Air Force in the Pacific and
used to ferry men and supplies. All of their armament was removed,
and the transparent nose and tail positions were faired over. Windows
were cut into the sides of the fuselage, and a cargo door was
installed in the rear fuselage where the waist positions used to be.

At least four ex-USAAF LB-30s were operated by Consairways, the
company-operated airline which had a USAAF contract for the return of
ferry crews from the Pacific. Known serials were AL531, AL568, AL594,
and AL598.

46 of the requisitioned LB-30s saw active service with the USAAF,
either as bombers or as transports. Of the remaining 29, six were
lost in accidents during the first six weeks of their service, and 23
were eventually returned to the RAF.